[Reader-list] Pakistani hip hop?

[anupam chakravartty]

Rocking for god



Irena Akbar <http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/irenaakbar/> Posted: Jan
06, 2009 at 0121 hrs IST

* *

*Shahjehan Khan, a 25-year old Pakistani American, grew up in a Boston
suburb where he played soccer, listened to heavy metal music and lounged at
pubs with his White peers. At home, he ate chicken curry, offered namaaz and
fasted during Ramadan, like other children of Muslim immigrants from South
Asia and the Middle East—perfectly at ease with his dual identities. That
was till 9/11. A day later, a student cornered Khan in the hallway of his
high school and asked, "What did your people do?" A bewildered Khan asked,
"My people from Boston?" *

"After 9/11, I felt there was no way to reconcile my Pakistani-ness with my
American-ness," he says. After a two-month-long drug binge, Khan dropped
out, returned home and enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in
Lowell, where he met fellow Pakistani American and punk-rocker Basim Usmani.
Usmani gave Khan a book, The Taqwacores, about imaginary Muslim punk rockers
in Buffalo, New York. The characters in the book held mixed-gender prayers,
drank alcohol and doped—all forbidden by Islam. Yet, they also offered
namaaz. The book changed Khan. In 2004, Usmani and he formed a Muslim punk
band called 'The Kominas'.

Sporting Mohawks and wearing tees with slogans such as "Frisk me, I am a
Muslim," the duo combined rock, hip-hop, rap and bhangra to produce songs
such as Suicide-bomb the GAP (Muslim punk's anthem), Sharia Law in the USA,
Wal-Qaeda store, and Rumi was a Homo. The songs strike at the "irrational"
American fear of Terror and the "corporate imperialism" of the US, but, at
the same time, the songs rebelled against "Muslim fundamentalism". In Par
Desi, Usmani describes being beaten up by White punks following 9/11 and
ending up in hospital with a dislocated shoulder. "In Lahore, it rains
water/In Boston, it rains boots", the song says.

The Muslim Hippies?

The Taqwacores inspired not just 'The Kominas' but a whole new subculture of
Muslim punk groups across the US and Canada such as 'Vote Hezbollah' in San
Antonio, 'Al-Thawra' in Chicago and the all-girl 'Secret Trial Five' in
Vancouver, Canada. The bands define their brand of music as 'Taqwacore'—from
the Arabic word 'taqwa' or 'consciousness of Allah' and 'hardcore', a form
of punk rock.

Michael Muhammad Knight, the author of The Taqwacores, converted to Islam at
15, went to Pakistan at 17 where he studied at a madarsa and almost joined
the Chechen mujahideen before growing disillusioned with orthodox Islam and
returning to New York. "I imagined the Taqwacore scene as a place where
Muslim kids could define Islam for themselves. Punk and hardcore seemed like
the best way to do that," he says.

Marwan Kamel, an Arab American who is the lead vocalist of the 'Al-Thawra'
band, says he's had 'bombing jokes' and 'camel jokes' thrown at him since he
was in school. "My peers would ask me if I had ever seen a bomb or rode on a
camel in the desert and I'd say that I have only seen a camel in Chicago's
zoo," he says. American Muslims, says Kamel, are the neo-Blacks. "Muslim and
Arab bashing has become a socially accepted form of prejudice in the United
States, reminiscent of the Black-bashing in the American media of the '50s
and the '60s,'' he says.

So, how does the Taqwacore philosophy solve Kamel's dilemma? "It allows me
to be a complicated Muslim. Several Muslims in the US think it's not 'Muslim
enough' to be 'too American' just as Americans think it's not 'American
enough' to be 'too Muslim'. Taqwacore seeks to turn around this false
dichotomy. It's okay not to feel American enough or Muslim enough," says
Kamel who doesn't feel guilty about drinking or not praying.

Like the The Taqwacores characters, some Muslim punks are queer, others
straight; some drink, some don't. Sena Hussain, the lead vocalist of 'Secret
Trial Five' (named after five Muslims who were held without charge in Canada
after 9/11), is a 26-year-old Pakistani American lesbian married to her
girlfriend and performs as a drag queen. She says her parents are ashamed of
her being gay but are glad about her band because it has "at least something
to do with Islam".

Shock Value

The cover of The Kominas' album, Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay, has a
gun-wielding woman, whose burqa has fallen off to reveal tattooed arms and a
tight tank top. Kamel, the Al-Thawra lead vocalist, gets kicks out of
punk-rocking for a White audience. "It's fun to shout at the White kids in
Arabic for a full 45 minutes without them understanding a word. When they
see us shout at them in punk style sporting green boots with red laces and
patched shirts, they're startled at this kind of 'defiance'," he says.

Building bridges

Two members in 'The Kominas' band—guitarist Arjun Ray and drummer Karna
Ray—are Hindu brothers from Kolkata. "My connection to Taqwacore is
personal, not ideological," says Karna, who has had "sand-nigger" yelled at
him. Then, there's a 30-something White Christian youth called 'Sagg' who
formed the band Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate in late 2006. "I try to build
bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims in the US".

'The Kominas' had performed at a fund-raising concert at Brooklyn for the
rebuilding of a Hindu temple vandalised by two White youths in Maple Grove,
Minnesota in 2006. Usmani is also looking for people in
India<http://www.indianexpress.com/section/India/721/>who can help him
with a tour he's planning of Delhi and Amritsar. "I am
planning to call it 'Party like it's 1946'," he says.

Currently, Usmani and Khan are in Lahore where they have done 25 concerts
over the last year. Their songs comment on the political and social
situation there but steer clear of Islamic fundamentalism. "In America, we
could afford to be sarcastic because the fear of terrorism was misplaced. In
Pakistan, there is genuine fear of terror because Muslim fundamentalists are
actually killing people here," says Usmani, whose concert in Lahore last
November was disrupted by a bomb attack.

The road ahead

The Taqwacore group on Facebook has 394 members while 'The Kominas' has 307.
Hiba Siddiqui, a 17-year-old high-schooler in Houston, is drawn to Taqwacore
because it allows her to be an "imperfect and confused Muslim". Her Facebook
photo has her wearing the Arabian white robe and red-check scarf for
Halloween, holding a toy gun, gritting her teeth and frowning. Its caption:
"My Al-Qaeda audition tape".

Half-Iraqi, half-Kashmiri American Yusuf Barzinji, 14, writes on Knight's
Facebook wall, "Dude, Taqwacore has changed my life." He converted his
hardcore punk band into a Taqwacore band called 'Purple Skies' in 2008".

But the sales of the music aren't rocking. Sagg calls his sales "crap";
al-Thawra's Who Benefits From War (May 2008) has sold only 200 copies; 'The
Kominas' haven't bothered to check the sales of Wild Nights in Guantanamo
Bay whose 500 copies were put for sale on CD Bay last year.

Knight sums up the future of Taqwacore: "It can go anywhere, and it can go
nowhere. Taqwacore is about being young and confused."

The inspired

Besides inspiring the subgenre of Muslim punk rock, Michael Muhammad
Knight's novel The Taqwacores inspired author Asra Nomani to lead a
mixed-gender prayer in March 2005. In the novel, a burqa-clad riot girl
Rabeya gives a Friday sermon and leads a mixed-gender prayer. The Taqwacore
movement is also a part of several college curriculum including Vassar
College in New York. Two films—a feature film based on the novel by Eyad
Zahra and a documentary by Omar Majeed—are expected to be released in the
first half of 2009. Meanwhile, Knight is busy completing his next novel
titled, Osama Van Halen.


On 1/7/09, francesca recchia <kiccovich at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Paul,
> Thanks for your posting!
>
> next term i will be teaching sociology of youth and the main focus of the
> course will be on Islamic youth subcultures looking especially at music
> literature and internet platforms.
> Naeem Mohaiemen's article on Dj Spooky's book is already on my reading list
> and will definitely show this video Paul has just posted.
>
> If you guys have any hint or suggestions i will definitely be
> supergrateful!
>
> be hugged
> francesca
>
>
>
>
> --- On Wed, 7/1/09, Paul Miller <anansi1 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> From: Paul Miller <anansi1 at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Pakistani hip hop?
> To: "Sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Wednesday, 7 January, 2009, 1:08 AM
>
> Gasp - I guess it's time for Sarai to start writing theses on global
> hybridity, eh?
>
> Youtunbe:
> http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5RxgiLARd5I
>
> and
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7813478.stm
>
> Strangely moving, but weird, nonetheless...
> Paul
>
> The elder daughter of Pakistan's assassinated former Prime Minister,
> Benazir Bhutto, has written a rap song expressing grief over her death.
>
> The song by Bakhtawar Bhutto, 18, comes a year after the assassination
> and is entitled "I would take the pain away".
>
> It pays tribute to her mother's "crazy courage" and describes her
> as
> "the epitome of benevolence".
>
> It has been played regularly on state-run television and has been
> posted on the video-sharing website YouTube.
>
> 'Weeping'
>
> "My mother was murdered. I don't even comprehend. Was it worth dying
> for? I'm walking through screened doors," Bakhtawar sings in English.
>
>
> Bakhtawar Bhutto
>
> You had beauty and intelligence, everything you did was relevant
>
> Bakhtawar Bhutto's lyrics in "I would take the pain away"
>
> Obituary: Benazir Bhutto
> Life in pictures: Benazir Bhutto
>
> "No comfort or ease. I'm begging you please, God bless the
> deceased,"
> she laments in the song.
>
> Praising her mother's "beauty and intelligence", the song says
> that
> the "whole world is weeping" over the murder.
>
> "Shot in the back of your ear, so young in 54th year, murdered with
> three kids left behind, a hopeless nation without you, you are in all
> their hearts," it says.
>
> The teenager, a student at Edinburgh University, then repeats the
> chorus line "I would take the pain away".
>
> A video to accompany the song shows footage and photographs of her
> smiling mother while election campaigning shortly before her death in
> Rawalpindi in December 2007 and of public grieving after her death.
>
> Ms Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack on her convoy - blamed
> on Islamic militants - as it travelled through the city's Liaquat Bagh
> park. She had just finished addressing an election rally.
>
> Information Minister Sherry Rehman - who for several years was an aide
> to Ms Bhutto - told the Reuters news agency that Bakhtawar wrote the
> lyrics and music while studying in Edinburgh.
>
> "It's a tribute of a grieving daughter to her iconic and loving
> mother," she said.
>
> Ms Rehman said that while music was a hobby for Bakhtawar, she had no
> plan to pursue it as a career.
>
> The song has had mixed reviews in the British press.
>
> "While her dirge-like rap is unlikely to secure her a Grammy, the
> seemingly heartfelt tribute might win her some fans," The Independent
> newspaper says.
>
> The Guardian says that she uses the song to "pour out her anguish".
>
> Ms Bhutto's widower and Bakhtawar's father, Asif Ali Zardari, became
> president of Pakistan in September.
>
> Their son, Bilawal, 20, studies at Oxford University in the UK and
> another daughter, Aseefa, 14, also studies abroad.
>
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